This invention is generally related to a facsimile device and system and more particularly related to a information management device and system that makes it possible to connect conventional facsimile machines which are not able to connect to network systems such as a local area network (LAN), to network systems.
Conventional facsimile machines directly receive facsimile information and then print the facsimile information on paper. Another type of facsimile machine has a confidential function and temporally stores the received information in a memory. In a facsimile machine having a confidential function, if the user wants to print the received confidential information on paper, the user has to input their password or identification number to the facsimile machine. When the inputted password matches a stored one, the facsimile machine produces a printed output corresponding to the facsimile information.
In either case, the user or facsimile operator had to go to the place at which the facsimile machine is located when they wanted to receive or send facsimile information. These types of facsimile machines are inconvenient for a user.
One conventional solution to solving the above problem attempts to employ a Local Area Network (LAN) facsimile network or a facsimile server.
Referring to FIG. 1, Japanese Laid Open patent application 8-204,934 discloses a facsimile machine and system designed specifically for a LAN. The facsimile is connected with the LAN. Accordingly, devices connected with the LAN are capable of gaining access to the files in the LAN facsimile machine via the LAN.
FIG. 2 shows a system described in Japanese Laid Open patent application 3-289,756 which discloses a system employing a facsimile server. The facsimile server 110 connects a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 100 to a LAN 122, receives the information from the sending side, and stores the information in memory 114. Each device connected with the LAN 122 is capable of gaining access to the stored information in the memory 114 by way of the LAN 112. As well known, a LAN is typically a digital network.
However, as recognized by the present inventor, the LAN facsimile machine and the above facsimile server have to be connected with the LAN. Generally, the LAN facsimile or the facsimile server have multiple functions but are very expensive.
Many users have a conventional facsimile machine which is incompatible with a digital network system. Generally, the conventional facsimile machines are inexpensive and only have user-friendly simple functions.
Therefore, the users, which get accustomed to the conventional facsimile machine, want to use the existing facsimile machine with a network system without change. However, the above users can not use the conventional incompatible facsimile machine in a network system.
In addition, connecting the LAN facsimile machine and the facsimile server to the LAN takes much time and labor.
If the user who has a conventional facsimile machine would like to employ it for a network system, the user has to replace and connect an adaptable expensive LAN facsimile machine or a facsimile server with an additional considerable expense in time and effort.
Furthermore, in such a case, the existing conventional incompatible facsimile machine becomes useless.
The device and system according to the present invention is capable of connecting a conventional incompatible facsimile machine to a network system, for example, a digital LAN.
To solve the above and other problems, according to one aspect of the present invention, a facsimile information management system is provided which is capable of connecting conventional facsimile machines, which are incompatible with network systems, to network systems. The facsimile information, management system includes a facsimile information management device connecting the facsimile machine and the network systems, and configured to manage information corresponding to facsimile transmissions and convert that information to information which is compatible with a network system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the facsimile information management device temporally captures a signal stream corresponding to a facsimile transmission between the facsimile machines via a network system, and stores the information corresponding to the captured signal stream.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the facsimile information management device monitors a stream of facsimile transmissions between the facsimile machines via a network system, and transfers all or a part of the stream of the facsimile transmission to a server device via the network system.